Category: Music

It’s hard to know what to expect when going to see a band that has been around for decades. Unless they’re in the ACDC/U2 category, you may be going to watch pairs of leather pants trying to spit out the love handles of grandma and grandpa. The fame monster has many victims and every...

Thoughts stay thoughts unless we believe them – even slightly. That’s when they escalate into emotional or physical sensations. I know myself well enough now that I can instantly tell when I’ve latched onto a negative thought or image. My perception of the present moment is corrupted by the unsettling nature of guarded anticipation....

Under 18’s gigs were always loud and crazy – everyone was high on hormones and sugar. Before one particular underage gig, the tour manager brought me, my family and the band in through to the back of the local council hall which was filled with 500 charged up teens (mostly girls). I’d have been...

It’s been a Hall and Oates week. Shooting stars at night, blue birds singin’ through the day, high 5’s and high 10’s all around. Last year I couldn’t be within 1 kilometre of a stage without feeling the hot and cold waves of anxiety wash over me. Over the last few months, I’ve busted...

There is a point in every professional artist’s life where they decided to get “serious”. Playing in the garage with mates, or smashing out a set at the local is no longer fulfilling when gazing at future possibilities. It’s not always a bad thing. I hit my journal one night after a few inspiring...

If the nine-year-old me were to pick two words to associate with Diesel, they’d be, “thick” and “hair”. “Thick” for the thickest fattest guitar sound ever, and “hair” because of how every single strand grooved in front of his face as if it had musical intuition. Funk baby!! I thought I was hooked when...

Kids daydream. Thanks to their encouraged imaginations and limited experiences on earth, to them, life’s possibilities are endless. When I was a kid, I dreamt of playing with all my favourite artists. I imagined performing to thousands of people around the world. I envisioned being deep in love with a wife and kids and...

I was taught never to view women as sexual objects, and to treat your girlfriend like a divine princess. I was taught to treat her gently, respectfully and to never enter a relationship just for sex. As a teenager high on hormones, this created much internal conflict. Consequently, my confidence around girls was quite...

There were two videos that I wore out when I was a kid – Back to the Future and Crossroads. Pirated from TV, I can tell you now by watching the “unpirated” versions, where the commercials kicked in and where the “tracking” needed adjusting. Oh the wonders of video! Definitely not the most discrete...

At around six-years-old, not long after the first hits of Chemo, my hair started to fall out. I didn’t really care. It wasn’t until kids started questioning it that I began to wear a cap. One time, this older kid kept flicking off my hat and laughing. So the next day when I saw...